This may be a long read to some so bear with me.
I am sticking to my boundaries of experience, research, and logic in writing this
guide - as a human being, I am subject to being utterly wrong at any time.
If you disagree with what I say, then enlighten me as a player to what I can
improve on for myself and the people who read this guide by posting constructively and not trolling. If you convince me of your point, I'll applaud you for whatever revelation you've brought to my attention and revise my guide with all due haste.
-Anonymous
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Introduction
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As of late, many players, on either the forums or in-game, have most likely noted a lack of 'community'. These same players tend to blame the lack of 'community' on features Blizzard has implemented, such as Looking for Dungeon and Looking for Raid. I don't disagree that those tools did make a negative impact on the communal aspect of World of Warcraft in the sense that there's no longer a forced community.
No longer is it in the hands of simply having similar interests in the game to socialize.
Now, it's up to the players themselves to build a community.
Each and every one of us, as people, have tools in which we're able to build our own community.
I'll address that in this thread.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Tools Individuals Have
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Players tend to think that the implementation of the LFD and LFR feature has killed off any sort of community that World of Warcraft had in the past. However, this is simply not true.
First, let's define community.
All the people living in a particular area or place: "local communities".
By technicalities, we're already in a community albeit not a social one. However, as mentioned above, players have the tools to turn the community we're in into a social community.
Emotional Appeal
First, I'd like to discuss a concept in social psychology known as 'person perception'.
The term person perception refers to the different mental processes that we use to form impressions of other people. This includes not just how we form these impressions, but the different conclusions we make about other people based upon our impressions.
If we follow the above mentioned concept, if we see someone being friendly, based on an individuals past experiences, we as people tend to assume that this individual is a friendly person.
So, one way a player can help 'build' a social community is simple and easy.
All you need to do is be friendly.
For example, when I enter an LFD or LFR, I greet my group with a quick and simple 'Hiya!' or 'Hai :)'. I might even add in a 'How're you all doing today?'.
People tend to respond positively to positive emotions. Simply saying the above is one easy way to do so.
Guilds
Another tool players have are 'Guilds'.
A Guild, by definition, is an association of people for mutual aid or the pursuit of a common goal. In this, let's assume that the common goal for the players is to build a social community.
We see many of these Guilds sprout up, especially as players who browse the general forums, quite often. They're seen as re-roll guilds and such. Players create new Guilds on a different server, maybe even a different faction, with one simple goal in mind.
That is, to build a community.
Many of these work out quite well including one of Hyjal and one on Wyrmrest Accord.
There are also several servers that have dozens of guilds with only one real interest and that's using guilds as a method of easy communication, or, being social.
For example, Wyrmrest Accord, from my experience, has many guilds that are actively recruiting other players to join a friendly community of like-minded players.
Another realm example is Proudmoore where there are many mini or even massive social guilds.
These aren't only restricted to these realms, of course, but these are two realms that have many of those sort of guilds.
As a player, we're able to create these guilds on most realms. There are a few exceptions, but for the most part, a player can create a social guild.
Of course, it can be a little rough starting up with the guild levels but, if you manage to recruit even 10 active players that are interested, you'd be able to get to higher levels in no time.
There are several methods of advertising from using the forums, trade chat, and simply asking IRL friends if they're interested.
It just requires a bit of effort but it can definitely be worth it in the end.
Real-ID/Battletags/Friends List
Another method of building a social community is through the use of Real-ID and, in the future, Battletags. Those aren't even necessary, technically. You're also able to use the friends list in the social tab.
Simply add players you rather like talking to and do simply that. Talk to them.
Socialize with them.
If there are multiple people, you could create a separate chat channel in which you all can talk to each other while doing whatever you're doing in WoW at that time.
Through Real-ID and Battletags, players can make and maintain friends cross-server without knowing them IRL. You can communicate with these said players, do dungeon runs with them, battlegrounds, and even raids.
If you don't know anyone cross-server, there are several ways you can meet players.
There are active cross-server raiding sites that have hundreds of raids created for players whom are interested.
The Forums have the Community Events and Creations in which players can create something or, even, anything in which players are able to participate in some way shape or form.
The tools are available. Players simply need to make use of them.
Forums
En Finalement, we've got the forums available.
Each of the designated sections of the World of Warcraft forums have their own separate community in which players participate in. Simply browse, be an active poster, be an enjoyable person in that sense.
Following my first point of emotional appeal, most individuals react positively to positive emotion.
TL;DR
To sum it all up, the World of Warcraft community is, in fact, not dead. The community simply needs to built upon by us, the players, to create a social community. Rather than lament what once was, remember that we're able to create a community ourselves. We have the tools. We just need to use them.
My two cents. <3
No comments:
Post a Comment